Food for the Mind, Body, and Soul

Tag: desserts

If you’re wondering about the title of this post, let me explain. I created this recipe while being awake at 6 AM which is just a few minutes past sunrise where I am, and thinking about how I really wanted a brownie. As a nutrition enthusiast, I realize brownies are not an ideal breakfast food, but a girl can dream and dreaming leads to creating. Make no mistake, these definitely aren’t a health food, but using whole grain spelt flour adds a bit of fiber. These brownies aren’t super chocolatey, so feel free to add chocolate chips or something else to add more flavor.

Ingredients:

1 and 3/4 cups of whole grain spelt flour or other whole grain flour of your choice (use brown rice flour to make this gluten free)

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

7 tbsp. cocoa powder

2/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce

1/4 cup dark agave nectar

1 cup unsweetened soymilk

1/2 cup earth balance vegan spread

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Measure dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder) and mix together in a large bowl.

The combination of almonds plus dried fruit is one that I always gravitate towards. As I wrote in a previous post, I love larabars, which are my go-to energy bar for when I don’t have time to sit down for a meal or snack. I decided to make my own version of a larabar, in “ball” form (instead of a bar). After experimenting with a few different combinations of dried fruit to nut ratios, and looking at a few recipes online (specifically, I mainly adapted Angela Liddon’s dark chocolate cherry bite recipe found here), I made the final product which I really enjoyed! Here it is:

Ingredients:

8 medjool dates, pits removed

1 cup raw almonds

1/2 cup dried blueberries (found at Trader Joe’s)

2-3 large prunes, pits removed

a dash of salt

Directions:

Process almonds and dates in a food processor, until fine chunks appear

add the dried blueberries, salt, and prunes

remove from the food processor and with your hands, mold into ball-shapes. Enjoy, or save for later by covering and storing in the refrigerator.